บททั้งหมดของ Hold on, Mr billionaire. : บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

I woke up the next morning, replaying the events of last night over and over in my head. The feel of Adrian’s lips against mine, the intensity of his touch—it was all too real, too raw to be a dream. But the reality of the situation hit me just as hard as the memory.I was still standing in the middle of a storm, and I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to weather it.Adrian hadn’t said anything when we finally pulled apart, but the look in his eyes—dark, conflicted—told me everything. There was something between us, something neither of us wanted to name, but it was there. And the lines between business and personal had officially blurred.As I got ready for the day, my phone buzzed with a message from Adrian. *We need to talk.*My heart skipped a beat as I read it. There was no context, no explanation, just those four words that sent my mind spiraling. What did he want to talk about? Was he going to pretend last night didn’t happen? Or was he going to make things even more complicate

The cool evening air wrapped around me as Adrian and I left his penthouse, but I could still feel the heat from the kiss we had shared earlier. It lingered on my lips, in my mind, making it hard to focus on anything else. We walked down the streets, side by side, yet the tension between us was palpable. I tried to push thoughts of Lucas and Monica out of my head, but it was impossible. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of storm was brewing behind the scenes, and how much of it was going to hit Adrian, and inevitably, me.The city buzzed with life as we walked, the sidewalks still alive with people enjoying the late hours. Every now and then, I could feel Adrian’s gaze on me, but he kept his thoughts to himself, as if still lost in his own mind, battling with whatever demons had been unleashed tonight.I wanted to say something to him, to break the silence that was thickening with every step we took. But what could I say? The lines between us were blurring faster than I had anticipa

(Adrian’s POV)I tried to walk away from her. God knows I tried. But as soon as I left Bella’s apartment, something gnawed at me. A tightening in my chest that wouldn’t ease. The thought of her, alone, thinking through everything that had happened with Lucas and Monica, replaying tonight’s disaster in her mind—it didn’t sit right with me. Not after the way her eyes had softened, calming me down when I was ready to tear Lucas apart.I reached my car, hands gripping the steering wheel, but I couldn’t bring myself to drive away. It had been a long time since someone had been able to bring me down from the edge like that. I’m used to having everything under control—emotions locked tight, decisions made with precision. But tonight? I lost it. Lucas had pushed me too far, and I was ready to break bones. If Bella hadn’t been there… No, I don’t even want to think about that.She’s got this way of looking at me—like she sees the parts of me I’m too afraid to show the world. She makes me want

(Adrian’s POV)I had spent most of the day staring out of the large windows in my penthouse, the city sprawling below me like a maze of lights and shadows. A glass of whiskey sat untouched on the coffee table. It used to help—the burn in my throat, the warmth in my chest. But not today. Not with everything that had happened recently.I couldn’t stop thinking about her.Bella had a way of getting under my skin, of making me question every decision I’d made up until now. It wasn’t just the way she looked at me, her eyes always searching for something deeper beneath the surface, but how she made me feel vulnerable—like I wasn’t just Adrian Langston, CEO, the ruthless businessman who crushed anyone standing in his way. With Bella, I was... different.And that terrified me.I couldn’t help but think about how far I’d gone in my life to build this empire, to prove to everyone, especially my father, that I was worth something. That I could rise above the expectations, the suffocating famil

(Third person pov)The weight of betrayal lingered in the air like a suffocating fog. Oliver stood in his apartment, staring at his phone. The unexpected message from Lucas had been gnawing at him for hours now, but he couldn’t shake the need to know what was truly going on. After all the years of bitterness and distance between him and Adrian, was this just another layer of deception? Another crack in the foundation of their relationship?Lucas had reached out to *him*—not Adrian. And that in itself was unusual.He replayed the message over in his head: “I need to explain everything. Meet me at our old spot. It’s not what you think.”It was vague, cryptic, and reeked of desperation. Oliver couldn’t help but wonder what was driving Lucas to reach out now. What had he been hiding all this time? The Lucas Oliver had known growing up had been loyal to Adrian—a confidante, his right-hand man. That was until Monica Tate had come into the picture.Oliver had never liked Monica. She was manip